Eyla Hardyng
Eyla Hardyng is a major character in the first and second seasons. She is played by starring cast member Jenn Platt, and debuts in the series premiere. Eyla is the daughter of kennelmaster, Grigg. Biography Eyla is a warg and has a shadowcat cohort. She can shapeshift into any animal. She supports House Etredes, despite being a distant relative of House Hardyng. She's a low-born girl and her father, Grigg Hardyng, is the kennelmaster for House Etredes. Eyla was born in the North, close to Deepwood Motte. Her mother is of unknown background but was said to be from a noble Northern house. Grigg and Eyla's mother didn't get on too well; the marriage was diplomatic and created as an alliance House Hardyng and Eyla's mother's house. Grigg doesn't like to talk about Eyla's mother so she doesn't question him. Due to the fact that Eyla doesn't know her mother and her mother is said to be Noble, it's possible that she's a Northern bastard. When Eyla was much younger, she began experiencing frequent green dreams and dreams in which she hunted as a wild beast. When Eyla started to tell people and question this, many found out which lead to her being kidnapped (along with her father). While kidnapped, she was tortured by a group but says that she does not remember their faces. The group tried to find out more about her warging ability, torturing her father, too, to see if he had any abilities. It turned out that he possessed no abilities for warging or green dreams; with a bag over his head, Grigg was thrown onto a carriage and dropped many days from where Eyla was being held. Bond with rope, Grigg couldn't move until he was found by Lord Einrich Etredes who eventually employed him as kennelmaster. Eyla remained imprisoned whilst her father and House Etredes searched for her. Yet, she continued to have dreams of possessing animals. She had a number of dreams in which she became a shadow cat. The cat had become ill but, with Eyla's knowledge of animals and survival, she managed to save the cat whilst being warged into it. Upon searching the area once the shadow cat had recovered, Eyla discovered that she was in the northern Riverlands. After hunting, Eyla eventually found castle ruins, an old stables and crypts which were being used as a prison by the Riverlands clan to hold and torture her in. Feeling sharp pain in her side, Eyla warged out of the shadow cat, realising that she was being tortured once more by her captors as they searched for answers. Before they could do any more, the shadow cat Eyla had warged into darted into the room and tore off the heads of some captors who had been holding her. Four, including the main torturer and ringleader, managed to escape before the shadow cat reached them. The cat freed Eyla and, since, has been her animal cohort. After many months of walking and tracking, the shadow cat tried to trace the route the captors had used to take Grigg and, thanks to House Etredes large amount of supporters, Eyla was eventually reconnected with her father. Now, Eyla works partly as a helper to the kennelmaster and an apprentice horse trainer. When she gets free time, she often tries to hunt down the group who tortured her and her father but, so far, she has had very little luck. As well as trying to find her captors, Eyla has a tendency of using her warging powers to find out those who are doing bad deeds (e.g. murdering and raping) and proceeds to get her revenge on them in the form of assassination. Her shadow cat went without a name for a long time but, in more recent times, was named Reaper by Edwin Etredes due to it 'looking edgy'. Recent Events First Season Alongside her companions, she travelled to King's Landing for the Tourney of King Robert's Nameday. Along the way, the group encountered wolves and many tests against the honour of their house. Eyla helped to bring down Orton Lugus and ultimately saved House Etredes. In the Tournament, Eyla participated in the equestrian competition. She placed second, only failing to a bitch of a commoner who was invented at the last second so that Eyla didn't win the grand prize. Midway through, Eyla gained the ability to warg into any animal she liked, not just had shadowcat, Reaper. Eyla hid the dagger which was given to Glive Salskillen. At the ball, it was reported that she was dancing with archer, Alleras. Second Season After a few months of being back at Redhill, Erik's betrothed, Aranette, was kidnapped by sellsword Bradyn Locke. During the attempted wedding, Eyla invited Sarella Sand to stay. After tracking carriage trails and footsteps (beating bandits along the way), the group found Aranette's corpse. Eyla saw Bradyn leaving on horseback. She warged into another horse and followed him for several days. The group followed Bradyn Locke, beating bandits and a bear on their journey. After defeating the bear, a young bear cub crawled out from the trees. Eyla decided to take care of it so that it didn't have to fend for itself. Eventually, they arrived at Wayferer's Rest were the group murdered Bradyn.